Tool for installing drapery pinhooks



A. P. Nil-:L 3,546,981

TOQL FOR INSTALLING DRAPERY PINHOOKS y Filed June 25, 1968 INV/Nv 1m. AMM f7 /I//fL Armed/fra".

United States Patent O 3,546,981 TOOL FOR INSTALLING DRAPERY PINHOOKS Adam P. Niel, Los Angeles, Calif., assignor to George F. McMurray, Glendale, Calif. Filed June 25, 1968, Ser. No. 739,871 Int. Cl. B25c 3/00; B25b 11/00 U.S. Cl. 81-3 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Drapery pinhooks have long been used for hanging draperies or curtains from a traverse rod or other support. Such pinhooks are formed from heavy-gauge wire in several standard sizes, and include a shank or pin portion with a sharp point for insertion into the upper edge of a drapery. When so installed, the pinhook provides a hook portion in the general shape of an inverted U which is positioned over the traverse rod or through a conventional clip which is in turn slidably mounted on a traverse rod or other support.

Manual insertion of pinhooks in drapery fabric is awkward and inconvenient because it is diiiicult to grip the relatively small pinhook, and because considerable force is required to force the shank or pin portion into heavy fabric. A variety of tools have therefore been developed to simplify and speed installation of drapery pinhooks in a manner which is comfortable and eicient for the worker. For example, a magazine-fed tool is disclosed in my U.S. Pat. No. 3,332,598, issued July 25, 1967. A manually-loaded single-pinhook tool is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,789,287, issued Apr. 23, 1957.

Both of the tools disclosed in the aforementioned patents, yas well as other tools in the prior art, have been designed primarily for professional use by workers who install many thousands of pinhooks in drapery fabrics during a relatively short period. While these tools have proved highly efcient for professional use, they are too bulky and expensive for marketing directly to housewives who may not need to install more than a few dozen pinhooks per year. The housewife can easily obtain packets of 25 or 50 pinhooks in a retail store, but is left with the difficult and burdensome task of manually installing the pinhooks in drapery fabrics without the assistance of a convenient tool.

The tool of this invention is a simple unitary device which is sufficiently inexpensive that it can be included in each packet of pinhooks sold on the retail market for non-professional use. The tool has no moving parts, and is integrally molded from a plastic material. The tool can be thrown away when the small stock of pinhooks in the usual packet is exhausted. That is, it is intended that the 3,546,981 Patented Dec. 15, 1970 ice tool will be packaged with small quantities of pinhooks on a routine basis, and will be treated as a throwaway item.

The tool of this invention differs from known tools in that it can be fabricated in a simple and inexpensive twopiece mold as used for forming plastic materials. These simple two-piece or two-plate molds are desirable as they lack longitudinal slides or other auxiliary mechanisms which are necessary to form the relatively complex shapes characterizing pinhook tools intended for professional use. The use of a simple two-plate mold also permits many tools to be molded in a single multi-cavity mold during a single molding operation. The production economies which are thereby realized make possible the manufacture of a tool which is intended for throwaway use.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Briefly stated, the invention contemplates a hand-held drapery-pinhook tool for releasably engaging and installing a pinhook having first and second arms joined by a bight portion to deline a generally U-shaped hook portion. The tool includes an elongated shank member having upper and lower surfaces configured to iit within the U-shaped hook portion of the pinhook.

The shank member has a plurality of integrally formed supporting flanges which extend from the upper and lower shank surfaces to prevent the pinhook from moving laterally oif the shank member. The flanges are staggered or alternated along opposite sides of each surface such that any lateral cross section through the shank member cuts no more than one flange per surface. This arrangement of flanges makes possible the use of a simple two-piece mold for fabrication of the tool.

A handle is secured to the shank member, and preferably the shank member, flanges and handle are integrally formed from a single piece of plastic material. In a presently preferred form, the upper and lower surfaces of the shank member each have three staggered flanges extending therefrom, and the handle extends upwardly and rearwardly from the shank member to be conveniently gripped by the hand of the user.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The invention will be described in detail with reference to the attached drawings, in which:

FIG. l is an elevation of a left side ofthe pinhook tool of the invention, with a pinhook installed thereon and inserted in a drapery fabric;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a right side of the pinhook tool;

FIG. 3 is a sectional elevation taken on line 3 3 of FIG. l; and

FIG. 4 is an enlarged top view of a portion of the tool, and a sectional top view of a portion of a mold useful for manufacturing the tool.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to the drawings, a pinhook tool 10 according to the invention includes an elongated shank member 11 having an upper hook-engaging surface 12 and a lower hook-engaging surface 13. A handle 14 is secured to the rear end of the shank member, and the handle extends upwardly and rearwardly away from the shank member. The forward end or nose of the shank member is prefer- 3 ably tapered to simplify and guide placement of a pinhook on the tool.

The side surfaces of the shank member and handle define recesses to minimize the amount of material needed to form the tool. Similarly, a plurality of circular holes 16 are formed through the handle to reduce the material in the tool.

A typical drapery pinhook 18 useful with tool 10 is shown in FIG. l, and includes a pin portion 19 having a pointed end 20. The pinhook also includes a generally U-shaped hook portion defined by first arm 22 adjacent the pin portion and a second arm 23 spaced from the first arm and pin portion, the arms being secured together by a curved web or loop portion 24.

The pinhook is installed in a drapery 25 by inserting a pointed end 20 in the drapery material and pushing the entire pin portion into the material. The pinhook is formed of relatively stiff wire to pinch or clamp the drapery securely between the pin portion and first arm 22. Pinhooks are also produced with a somewhat more rounded contour, but all such variations include a U- shaped hook portion which is engageable on the tool of this invention.

An upper central supporting flange is secured to and extends upwardly from the right side of upper surface 12 of the shank member. A lower central supporting flange 31 is secured to and extends downwardly from lower surface 13 of the shank member. As seen in FIG. 3, the outer side surfaces of the supporting flanges are flush with the side surfaces of the shank member.

A forward supporting flange 32 and rear supporting flange 33 are also secured to and extend upwardly from the upper surface of the shank member. The outer surfaces of the forward and rear supporting flanges are flush with the left side surfaces of the shank member as seen in FIGS. 3 and 4. The inner surfaces of the forward and rear supporting flanges are spaced from the inner surface of central supporting flange 30 to define a continuous groove or channel 34 which receives second arm 23 of the pinhook.

Similarly, a lower forward supporting flange 36 and a lower rear supporting flange 37 are secured to and extend downwardly from lower surface 13 of the shank member. These flanges are disposed adjacent the right side surface of the shank member, and are laterally spaced from lower central supporting flange 31, the inner surfaces of the three flanges defining a lower channel 38 which receives first arm 22 of the pinhook.

The purpose of arranging the supporting flanges in staggered or alternating fashion along opposite side surfaces of the shank member is to permit the use of a simple and economical two-plate mold 40, a portion of which is shown in FIG. 4. Mold 40 includes a first plate 41 and a second plate 42 which move together (as indicated by arrows 43 in FIG. 4) to define a cavity having the configuration of tool 10.

A pair of longitudinally spaced lateral projections 44 extend from first plate 41, and another pair of longitudinally spaced lateral projections 45 extend from second plate 42. These lateral projections cooperate to define cavities in which the upper supporting flanges of the shank member are formed as suggested in FIG. 4.

The use of complex longitudinal slides or other auxiliary mechanisms in the mold is unnecessary because the entire molding operation can be carried out by purely lateral motion of the two plates making up the mold. This in turn is made possible by the staggered or alternating arrangement of the supporting flanges which permits clear access of the lateral projections of the mold across the upper and lower surfaces of the tool shank to define flange cavities in which the supporting flanges are formed.

This type of simple and economical mold could not be used if the supporting flanges were continuous along the opposite sides of the upper and lower surfaces of the shank member, or if the opposing flanges overlapped.

4 That is, the flanges must be arranged such that any lateral cross section through the shank member cuts no more than one flange on the upper surface and one flange on the lower surface. This geometry permits the use of a simple two-plate mold in which a multiplicity of tools may be formed in a single molding operation.

Preferably, the tool is molded from a single piece of plastic material such as high-impact polystyrene. This material is economical, and has suflicient structural rigidity to provide a tool with the desired stillness and strength. Although the dimensions of the tool may vary somewhat, a typical unit has a shank member about one and one quarter inches long, and a handle about three inches in length. A tool thickness of about JA; inch has been found to provide adequate rigidity.

In use, a drapery pinhook is slipped over the shank member so the upper and lower shank surfaces fit within the hook portions of the pinhook to bear on first and second arms 22 and 23 as shown in FIG. l. The tool handle is then gripped as shown in FIG. l, and pin portion 19 of the pinhook is slipped into drapery 25. Pin portion 19 is resiliently urged toward first arm 22 such that the draperyy fabric is pinched between these members, and the pinhook is thereby retained in the drapery when the tool is withdrawn from the U-shaped hook portion by a quick rearward motion.

The upward curvature of the tool handle provides adequate clearance for the users hand when the tool is in use. The supporting flanges on the shank member prevent any lateral tilting or shifting of the pinhook, and permit the pinhook to be accurately guided and supported as it is driven into the drapery fabric. The supporting flanges serve this function even if the hook portion of the pinhook is slightly misshapen such that arms 22 and 23 do not snugly and resiliently grip the shank portion but instead fit loosely over upper and lower surfaces 12 and 13.

If an exceptionally loose fitting or distorted hook is to be installed, it can be held against sliding forwardly off the tool by the users forenger as suggested in FIG. l. This is unnecessary with a normally formed pinhook, however, as the arms of the hook portion normally grip the tool shank with suflicient force to hold the pinhook in place. The use of three staggered supporting flanges on each of the upper and lower surfaces of the shank provides a three-point grip on the pinhook arms to prevent skewing or lateral shifting during pinhook installations. If desired, surfaces 12 and 13 can be contoured to fit more snugly within the pinhook, and to provide a detent which arms 22 and 23 are resiliently forced over when the pinhook is installed on the tool.

There has been described a simple and economical pinhook installation tool which can be manufactured at low cost for throwaway service and packaging with small quantities of pinhooks as sold on the retail market. The staggered or alternating arrangement of supporting flanges on the tool shank permits lowcost, high-quantity production in simple and economical two-piece molds. The invention has been described and illustrated in a presently preferred form, but various modifications of the basic design may suggest themselves to those skilled in the art. All such variations and modifications are intended to be encompassed within the scope of the following claims which define the invention in detail.

It is claimed:

1. A hand-held drapery-pinhook tool for releasably engaging and installing a pinhook having `a generally U- shaped hook portion, the tool comprising an elongated shank member having upper and lower surfaces configured to fit within the U-shaped hook portion of the pinhook, the shank member having a plurality of integrally formed supporting flanges extending from the upper and lower surfaces to prevent the pinhook from moving laterally off the shank member, the flanges being staggered along opposite sides of each surface such that any lateral cross section through the shank member cuts no more 6 than one ange on each surface, and a handle secured to References Cited the Shank membe UNITED STATES PATENTS l h' h h h k 2 The tool dened 1n c arm 1 1n w 1c t e s an mem 2,789,287 4/1957 Lambert 145-46 ber, anges and handle are integrally formed from a single piece of plastic.

3. The tool dened in claim 2 in which the upper and 5 ROBERT C RIORDON Pnmary Exammer lower surfaces of the shank member each have three R. V. PARKER, IR., Assistant Examiner staggered anges extending therefrom, and in which the l handle extends upwardly and rearwardly from the shank i U-S. Cl. XR. member. 145-46; 227-107 

